Deadman Wonderland

by Jinsei Kataoka

Death Race 2000 * meets The Hunger Games meets The Fugitive done as a manga. I didn't get hooked on this series, even though it has a bunch of promising (weird, but promising) elements. The plot has a lot of things going on, so I think maybe I was worried it would be a never-ending series that never really gets anywhere, but apparently it's only 13 volumes. Maybe if I'd had more volumes on hand I would have kept going. An anime adaptation aired in Japan in 2011, and I'm mildly curious about it.

Overall score: meh. I can see younger teens being into it, but parents should be advised there's quite a bit of gore.

* I'm referring to cult classic Death Race 2000, rather than the 2008 reboot and sequels, because the manga series has a certain dark humor mixed with the deadly mayhem.